Sunday, November 13, 2011

Sunday’s topic wasn’t provided directly by a story that’s in the headlines but rather it was suggested by those headlines.

If my ‘off the reservation’ pieces disturb you then save yourself the trouble and move on now.

Today’s musings about the ‘quality of leadership’ will only bore you.

For that, good citizen is what caught my eye as I browsed the front page of the online edition of the NY Times (free version; Gegner is too poor to pay.)

I’d like to add that the, er, ‘inspiration’ to tackle this topic hit me even before I read today’s headlines, Herman Cain’s claim that God, er, ‘told him’ to run (apparently god loves Republicans so much he tells them all to run! Yet another reason why I am a devout atheist. I have no use for a god that would inflict Republican/Libertarian principles on anyone!)

If we were to back up even a quarter of a step right here we would be wondering precisely what kind of circus the governing of our civilization has become?

I mean the only legitimate employer of clowns are circuses, right?

(I mean no disrespect to those who study to be ‘real’ clowns, it is both a noble and honorable profession: it is the ‘clowns’ who run for political office that are besmirching your profession.)

How sad is it that the general public can readily grasp such an analogy?

Seriously good citizen, how disturbing is it that there ISN’T a single democratic challenger to the incumbent?

More disturbing is the very notion that this individual even thinks he deserves a second term!

At least Mr. ‘I elected myself a half a dozen times’ Berlusconi (it is no secret he owns the Italian media, HE can make anyone he wants Prime Minister…and the people will buy it!) has ‘stepped down’ from politics, once again begging the question of who (in their right mind) would want to take the reins of ANY of the badly broken nations on the planet?

Which, naturally, is a damning indictment of capitalist media in general…although communist media proved just as useless.

Only Anarchist media would be the type of watch dog the people could rely on.

Um, yeah…probably a deal killer for some of you but A Simple Plan was designed using the principles of Anarchy…and I count myself as an Anarchist.

WITH THE DISCLAIMER that I AM NOT ‘affiliated’ with the multiple bizarre manifestations that claim to be anarchist in nature but totally ignore ‘true’ anarchist principles such as rules without rulers, rather than the empty credo of ‘I will not obey’, (the angry retort of a belligerent child!)

Just as there are Marxists, Leninists and Maoists (to name a few) anarchists are similarly, er, divided.

Another of the feature of A Simple Plan is that our ‘leaders’ will NOT BE ‘legislators’; only the people can alter or, through the courts, interpret the laws.

The laws will be few and simple…conversely, the penalty for breaking them will be severe if not extreme…exile is a one-way proposition.

Um, while we’re talking about insuring ‘effective’ leadership (our leaders will compete for the job using their experience and skills, which is to say the ‘test’ will have a ‘practical’ aspect as well as a written evaluation.

More interestingly, it is likely this practical portion of the test will be televised!

Which is another way of insuring our leadership won’t get away with operating ‘behind closed doors’.

To that end the media cannot be denied access to ANY aspect of government, as a kicker, the media will be the ‘sole arbiter’ of what is or isn’t ‘fit to distribute’.

A society of secrets will soon consume itself and cannot be permitted.

If the more you read, the less you like gnaws at you, consider the alternatives…

The Who said it best; ‘there’s no easy way to be free!’

Now, if I can design this system to ensure we are not lead by a troupe of simpering sycophants, why do we persist in inflicting that exercise in futility upon ourselves?

Probably because the only thing I’m in charge of is the garbage…

Actually it’s not about doing the ’right’ thing, it’s all about PRETENDING to do the right thing!

And being clubbed like a baby fur seal for our ’poor decision making’ when the media’s picks turn out disastrously!

And in fairness to the ‘we write for a paycheck’ brigade, they only publish what they’re told to publish…information that comes from a deeply corrupt election commission.

Ironically, we have arrived at a time when even the general public has become ‘disenchanted’ with our seriously defective electoral system.

More frustratingly, we seem to have as much chance of repairing that as we have of ’reforming’ our obviously corrupt government.

About Me

I have just perused the media offerings for today and concluded, amazingly, that in a world that is truly falling apart, they have nothing to say!

So for today’s ‘treat’, you can read me, ‘unplugged’.

Let’s start with my humble beginnings, shall we?

No I’m not going to bore you with my tawdry upbringing because being raised poor has little to do with anything…although I doubt I’d be who I am today had I been born with anything even resembling a ‘silver spoon’ protruding from any orifice!

So yes, it is at least tangentially relevant that I was born poor and remain poor to this day.

Um, contrary to popular belief, I have never set myself on a path to ‘conquer the world’…and, unsurprisingly, might be accused of failing because I didn’t’ set my sights high enough.

But we can’t ALL conquer the world…and maybe that is my fracture because my goal always has been the ‘greatest good’.

Why is it in a world so full of bounty that only a few get to enjoy it?

And the answer comes back (quite quickly I might add:) mismanagement.

The system itself is deeply flawed and remains that way due to deep corruption!

But I preach to the choir, do I not?

Everybody knows.

So why doesn’t ‘somebody’ DO SOMETHING about it?

Have we all been so deeply indoctrinated with ‘go along to get along’ that none of us dare ‘rock the boat’ (even though it is headed over a cliff?)

Although I’d daresay we have already gone over that cliff, rocking the boat now would merely remove the only thing between you and the jagged rocks below.

As thin as that object may be,

And no, it is unlikely you will survive that sudden stop that follows every long fall.

But I digress…(and do so with such frequency that I fear few of you can follow my, er, ‘insights’ to their conclusions.)

Which is to announce that I suspect my son isn’t the only one with ADD.

Meaning he comes by his ‘honestly’.

So let’s return to the beginning (because we’re gonna end up there anyway) and try not to ‘squander the opportunity’ which the slavers among us are prepared to defend with their worthless lives.

Yes good citizen, there are those among us who support slavery so long as it is not they who are the slaves.

They will inflict a fate worse than death upon YOU if their children are spared.

Did I lose you again? Try to keep up, eh?

These ‘true believers’ form a singular barrier to a fair and equitable society. They must be eliminated OR those they follow/obey must be, er, ‘eradicated’ for subsequent generations to be free.

No ‘half measures’ here good citizen, this is not a ‘once and done’ proposition.

Which is to say vigilance is key. We may succeed in sweeping them aside (temporarily) but they will regroup and start over if we provide them with the mechanisms they need to corrupt society.

Their ‘tool of choice’ is (and always will be) ‘hard currency’. Without it, it becomes near impossible to ‘bribe’ others towards your way of thinking.

This is why you are ‘trained’ to demand money you can touch…while money itself remains an ‘idea’.

Fix this and we break the slaver’s back.

The other ‘trump card’ the slaver holds is their control of the workplace. They get to decide who ‘prospers’ and who starves.

A decidedly toxic power to have in a world where survival depends on ‘participation’.

If they don’t let you play, you can’t prosper…legally.

That is the ‘powder keg’ the unemployment situation has become.

Yet the conservatives (those who would enslave you) still preach that it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to make yourself ‘USEFUL’ to the employer.

And soon SOME OF YOU may be able to ‘redeem’ yourselves by being willing to DIE for people who wouldn’t ordinarily spit on the best part of you!

Oh, you’ll be a hero for taking a bullet for them but you can almost hear them shriek ‘idiot’ as you fall to the ground, clutching your vitals!

Um, I find myself apologizing after these solo flights if only because a trip through the landscape that is my mind can be a pretty disturbing experience for those who don’t usually think along those lines.

So, in short…(not that I’m particularly comfortable with the short version of anything) A Simple Plan was designed to facilitate the ‘equality’ we need to move forward as a species.

If we don’t learn to live together, we will not survive to go forth and meet new (and hopefully more intelligent) races across the cosmos.